1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to the management of memory allocation to programs in such devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Electronic devices, such as computers, portable media players, and mobile phones, often include executable software applications that provide various functionalities. Such applications are typically stored in a storage device, such as a hard drive or a flash memory, and executed by a processor at a given time (e.g., device start-up), on an as-needed basis, or when desired by the user (e.g., in response to a user input). To increase the speed with which applications may be executed, memory resources (such as from a random access memory) are often allocated to the application, and application instructions may be loaded into the allocated memory for execution by the processor.
Over time, electronic devices have generally increased in both hardware and software complexity, providing more and more functions to a user at seemingly ever increasing speeds. Additionally, the size of many such devices has decreased—the processing power of a modern handheld computing device can easily exceed that of much larger devices a generation ago. This decrease in size, however, results in a premium on space within the device for components such as additional memory. Also, the inclusion of additional memory typically increases the cost of the device. As may be appreciated from these trends, in some instances numerous applications of an electronic device may place significant demands on the memory system of the device. If an application cannot access sufficient memory, or cannot access such memory in an efficient manner, the application may not operate in a desired manner and may cease working at all. Such failures may negatively impact overall performance, as well as the experience of a user in operating the device.